Duke Energy spent record sums to beat environmental bills

Duke Energy Corp. spent more money than ever last year trying to influence the decisions of federal lawmakers.

The Charlotte-based utility and the industry want to shape future global warming legislation.

Duke has been pushing for exemptions for utilities that rely heavily on coal-fired power plants, blamed as a cause of the rising temperatures because they emit massive amounts of carbon dioxide. The regulations could include taxing or capping emissions from all industrial sources.

Several carbon dioxide bills that could cost utilities are pending. And Duke and other power companies helped stall measures last year that would force utilities to produce a certain percentage of electricity from renewable energy sources, such as the sun and wind. That electricity is more expensive to produce.